Wednesday, 16 April 2014

Regional Science Fair

My district does some pretty great things. And I'm really proud to be a part of this one. The Regional Science Fair committee consists of 16 of us. We start planning in September for this day in April. This year, I had two positions on the committee - Activities Coordinator (1 of 3) and Ethics Coordinator (just me). The ethics position was a new one for me. I really enjoyed it and can't wait to take it further next year.

Each year we have a logo design contest. The winner gets their design on the shirt for the year. This was designed digitally by a grade 10 student! She won a $250 gift card to Staples. I just love this logo! Super cool!

Each school is allowed to bring a percentage of their eligible students to the fair. For my school, that was 12 students. Three students came from my class. Here they are with their boards:

Kayli did her project on erosion. It was called "Breaking Down the Earth". My oh my this girl is such a great presenter! She was so confident and really knew her stuff. The most exciting part was when she was given the "Top Grade 4" award at the end of the fair. So proud for her!

Lucas' family are farmers. He told me he wants to be an excellent farmer just like his dad when he grows up. What better time than now to start preparing? He did research on a variety of grains his family would grow on their farm. Though his hypothesis was correct, he learned a lot about proper seeding techniques. Not to mention data analysis and graphing. What a great job he did!

I just happened to have two photos for this next student. I think this is a great example of all the hard work and learning that goes into a science fair project. If you are a teacher who disagrees or doesn't see the benefits of science fair, well I ask you to email me now. I will gladly tell you! The first picture is of Hunter and his board at our school fair. The second is of the board he took to Regionals. What a massive improvement he made! Don't get me wrong, his first board was amazing. But the initiative, determination and drive to improve is really impressive.

What do you do when at the fair? That's where my activities role comes in.

Between judgings the students are super busy! Here's just a little bit of what they did:

Dale is a teacher in our district. He has brought a table of aboriginal items to the fair the past two years. Students love to guess what each item is, who used it and why they used it. For me, this is a great tie in to the grade 4 curriculum and I encourage my students to go visit him. But his passion and knowledge for the topic makes him really interesting to listen to! You see a lot of parents at this table as well.

The favourite part of the fair for many, including myself, is Rick's science show. Each year he does it with a different theme. This years theme was electricity. His show was called "Snap, Crackle, and SHOCK!". So fun!

Showing how static electricity can control the flow of water.

Mr. Van de Graaff is messy!

In the afternoon we had a huge challenge! In teams of no more than 4 students had to make a card tower using only 2 decks of cards, scissors and a scooter board as the base. It had to be stable enough to wheel to the judging circle. The tallest tower was over 18 inches!